Tollbooth getting a little too personal

By Sue Carlton, Times Columnist

March 29, 2011

Maybe like me, you tend to mistrust most things
governmental.

Maybe you have even drawn the derision of friends for, say,
refusing to buy a SunPass. Yes, a SunPass sails you through Florida
tollbooths without you having to stop and dig for quarters. But it
also gives my government a lot of personal information about me,
plus a way to watch my whereabouts were my government so
inclined.

So okay, my trips to Costco are not all that interesting. And
around me, people say: What's the big deal? Why so paranoid? I
start to wonder: Am I on my way to becoming one of those lost souls
wandering the streets in a tinfoil hat, muttering about radio waves
and the IRS, and not especially popular at parties?

The government is here to help, right?

This week, the Times' William R. Levesque reported on a
state policy for dealing with drivers who showed up at tollbooths
bearing bills of $20 or more. To thwart counterfeiting, toll
workers were supposed to take down information about the bill
bearer, including the make and model of the car.

Apparently, however, it did not stop there. According to a
federal lawsuit filed by a Lakeland man, toll workers have asked
for much more, including drivers' addresses, gender, phone numbers,
ages and race. The bill in question could be as small as $5.

And if you refused? If you said, no thanks, don't really want to
spill my personal stuff for the privilege of paying a toll? Well,
you can't back out of a tollbooth. And refusing to comply could be
treated as refusing to pay.

Don't ask questions. The government is here to help you.

And to keep that government from rummaging around in your sock
drawer, you apparently had to come packing a crisp roll of
singles.

So what were they after in gathering the low-down on motorists?
Real dirt on counterfeiters? A list of potential SunPass buyers?
Something more sinister?

At least 260,000 drivers were so detained, according to the
suit, which also says the forms toll takers used cost twice as much
as the fake bills they took in.

The government is here to operate inefficiently?

If all this doesn't make you uncomfortable, how about the cell
phone video in which a toll worker is asked what law lets him
request this information. The toll worker helpfully says he can
call state troopers - you know, the ones with the uniforms, hats
and guns - to explain.

The government is here to expound on the law? Take you to jail?

Levesque reports that the Department of Transportation suspended
the program in July after a complaint from Joel Chandler,
self-described public records activist and, apparently, Wrong Guy
To Mess With. Chandler sued, saying the policy equals illegally
detaining people and violates our rights against unwarranted search
and seizures.

By now I can hear some people saying: Oh, please. Cooperate and
move on. And buy a SunPass already. To which I say: Can't I have
nothing to hide and a right to privacy?

And shouldn't we make sure when government intrudes, it has
justification beyond: because it is the government, and because it
can?